


I made my choice a long time ago

by asarahworld



Series: The Doctor and Rose Tyler [51]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Episode AU: s03e08-09 Human Nature/Family of Blood, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 17:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16665220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld
Summary: Fobbed!Thirteen and gang plus dimension!hopping!Rose.





	I made my choice a long time ago

There was a knock on the door.

Ryan Sinclair looked at his companion, crossing the room to open it.

Yasmin Khan sidestepped him, blocking her friend from the entrance. “What if it’s not Graham? What if they’ve found us? The Doctor never said what to do if we were in the TARDIS when they came for her.”

Ryan cracked the door open. “Or, it’s a person,” he turned to face them. “Sorry, this police box is out of order.”

Yasmin rolled her eyes, pushing past Ryan and slipping out. “I’m PC Khan, can I help you?” A policewoman, stepping from a police box. Nothing suspicious about that.

The woman averted her eyes. “No, sorry. M just looking for someone.”

“In a police box?” Yasmin frowned.

She shook her head. “It’s a long story.” Ryan and Yasmin shared a look. Whatever strange story the woman had, it could not be weirder than theirs. The woman reached out to touch the wooden exterior. And gasped. “The TARDIS.” She looked at the pair, lips trembling. “Where’s the Doctor?”

They looked at the woman. And ran.

They had been found. “Jinxed it, you did,” Yasmin said, her breath choppy as they ran back to the flat.

“Me? What about when you said, ‘what if it’s not Graham’,” Ryan retorted, skidding to a stop and wrenching the door open.

“What didn’t I do now,” Graham’s voice came from the kitchen. “John’s just put the kettle on, tea’ll be ready in a mo’, though where she’s run off to now, I don’t know.”

“She left the kettle on? You know, she does that on the TARDIS too. I’ll go in the kitchen and there’ll be half-made sandwiches and kettle overboiling,” Yasmin laughed.

“And she shows up twenty minutes later, with those goggles strapped over her eyes and grease on her hands, wondering where her tea went because she’d only been gone a mo’,” Graham chuckled. “But I think the two of you were saying something before I interrupted?”

“There was a woman and she knew about the TARDIS,” Yaz looked at Ryan, “and she was asking for the Doctor.”

“Did you lock the door?” Ryan looked at Yasmin. “Because I didn’t lock the door.”

“You were still inside, I didn’t lock the door. I was heading that woman off.”

At a different time, Ryan might have taken a moment to laugh at the spectacle they were creating. A young Pakistani woman, a black man, and an old white man, all running desperately toward an old police box.

The door was unlocked.

There was a woman in the TARDIS.

“We told you this box wasn’t in service,” Yasmin put her best police voice on.

“And I told you that I was looking for somebody. Where is he?”

“You’ll need to be a touch more specific.”

The woman looked at them, studying them. Yaz felt a touch uncomfortable, normally she was the one trying to get a hold on people, writing out parking tickets.

“None of you are him, but you’re not shocked at the inside of this place, so you’re familiar with it. Which means you know him. I’m… a friend.”

“Whose friend?” Graham stepped forward. It sounded as if she was looking for someone who had perhaps formerly travelled with the Doctor. “Who are you looking for, love?”

“The Doctor.”

They had been found. And it was in the TARDIS.

“Well she’s not in here.” Ryan stepped forward, unsure of what his next move was but knowing that they had to get her out of the ship. They had been so close, literally hours away from time running out.

“Ryan, get to the Doctor,” Yaz hissed. “Get her safe.”

Ryan stood, rooted to the ground.

The stranger’s head snapped back. “She?” Something beeped. The stranger looked absently at her wrist, frowning.

The charging cycle hadn’t started yet. She was trapped.

“Is that a vortex manipulator?” It looked nothing like the one Krasko had used in Montgomery.

“No, it’s a… no. Sorry, how do you know about vortex manipulators?” The woman’s frown deepened.

“Sorry, we’ll be asking the questions here,” Yaz said with a false bravado. The Doctor had explained that the aliens looking for her were dangerous. They were smart, she’d said. Intelligent. “You’re looking for a man called the Doctor. What’s he look like? Why did you enter the box when I said it was out of service?”

“I didn’t know he’d regenerated. Or that becoming a woman was possible. He… she could look like anybody. That’s why I’m looking for the TARDIS.”

“How do you know about the TARDIS?”

“Travelled in it. Her, really. She’s quite sentient, did you know? The Doctor used to call her ‘Old Girl’. She always took us where we needed to go. I suppose she still does for him… her.”

“What does your doctor look like?”

“Tall. Brown hair, really great hair, and brown eyes. Last time…we were together, he wore a brown suit and coat with chucks,” the woman smiled fondly.

“Your somebody isn’t here,” Yaz said firmly. “Now how did you get in. The box was locked.”

“I have a key.” The woman held up a silver Yale key. “But just because he’s regenerated that doesn’t change that I’m still looking for him. Her. I made them a promise, which I intend to keep.”

Graham closed his eyes. “I lost my wife two months ago, nearly to the day. I’d do anything to have her back. Almost.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman reached out, touching Graham’s shoulder gently. “What was her name?”

“Grace. Her name was Grace.”

“I lost my Doctor, a year? Two years ago. It’s hard to keep track of the time.” The woman said softly. “We were separated. He said that he couldn’t come back for me, that the cracks in the universe were healing. But they’re not. I need to find him and tell him that. The multiverse are at stake.” The woman paused. “Sorry, her. I need to find her.”

“You’re certain this is the same person you’re looking for?” The woman nodded. “What’s your name?”

“Rose. Rose Tyler.”

“The Doctor doesn’t talk about herself. For all we know, she could be telling the truth.”

“She’s looking for a man, remember,” Ryan refuted Graham’s optimism.

“The Doctor can regenerate. Changes his whole look, superficial personality quirks. When I left, he was tall and brown haired, really great hair.” She smiled. “Before that, first time I met him, cropped light brown hair ‘n blue eyes.”

Yaz looked at Ryan. “Half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman,” she mouthed. Ryan looked back to the woman, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Yeah, all right,” he muttered. “How do we know your telling the truth? That you’re not one of the creatures hunting us?”

“Because the TARDIS wouldn’t have let me in,” she said simply. “We shared a heart, once. To save the Doctor. The TARDIS knows me. It’s coming back, in pieces. I think I remember what happened that day,” the woman addressed the last statement to the ship, looking at the console.

The time rotor bobbed gently. She looked back at the companions of the Doctor. “I looked into the TARDIS and took the Time Vortex into myself. The TARDIS and I created an entity that saved the Doctor.” A viewscreen emerged from behind some of the roundels. I am the Bad Wolf, she mouthed along the recording. “I killed him?” Her voice broke.

“From what it looks like, that bloke chose to save you,” Graham said gently.

“Thank you,” Rose touched the console. “But where is the Doctor now?”

“She’s not going to recognize you. The TARDIS did something to make her forget she’s an alien.”

“Sorry, what’s your name? All of you, I suppose we can finish introductions now?” Rose smiled warmly, asking the question just quickly enough that Graham suspected she was trying to process the information they and the TARDIS had thrown at her.

“Well, my name’s Graham. And these here are Ryan and Yaz. Yaz is a police woman and Ryan’s my wife’s grandson.”

“Yasmin Khan,” Yaz stuck her hand out.

“’lo,” Rose nodded, shaking Yaz’s hand. “Rose Tyler. And, apparently, Bad Wolf.”

“Are you an alien too?” Graham asked, curious.

Rose laughed. “No. Born ‘n raised in London. Lived with my mum in a flat, down… well, my mum had a flat.”

Past tense. Graham wondered where her mum was now.

“You’re lookin’ for the Doctor and you’re not an alien. Who’s Rose Tyler, then?” Ryan asked.

“I travelled with the Doctor. We got separated. And I came back. We need her, in the parallel universe. The stars are goin’ out.”

“When?” Yasmin asked. Graham and Ryan looked at her. She shrugged. “It’s a time machine. Maybe this already happened for the Doctor.”

“It was the Battle of Canary Wharf. 2007.”

“That was more than ten years ago,” Yaz said gently. She didn’t remember much from that day. It had been during the summer holiday between Years 7 and 8. She had been eleven years of age, old enough to recognize that something important was happening, young enough to be kept from the interesting conversations.

Ten years. In as linear a fashion as the Doctor could manage. Rose wondered how long it had been for the Doctor. He’d been nine hundred when they’d travelled together. How old were they (was she?) now? The Doctor(s) she knew never talked about their past. After being alive for so long, could they even remember all the places they’d visited, the people they’d met? (A small voice in the back of her mind wondered if the Doctor remembered her.)

“Right, well, we’d probably get back to the Doc. She’s got to open this watch in about two and half hours so that she remembers everything, assuming the aliens don’t catch up to us.” Graham looked at Rose.

Two and a half hours, and she could see the Doctor. A different Doctor than whom she was looking for, but the Doctor just the same. Rose had made her decision before she’d even thought about it. “I’m coming with you.”

The walk back to the flat was short, and quiet. Contemplative, each of the gang caught up in their own thoughts.

“We’re back,” Yaz called, stepping through the unlocked door and sighing when she saw the kitchen. “Do not tell me that you’ve gone and taken the coffee maker apart again.”

“Nope,” came a voice from under the table, “that was your mobile. Thought I could fix it to get a better signal. I’m sure that I used to be able to do that.”  
Yasmin looked at the shambles of her phone.

“Right, well, we’ve brought a friend back with us.”

“Hello,” the voice under the table said cheerily. “Any friend of Yaz’s is a friend of mine, I’m sure. John Smith,” the voice under the table introduced herself, before sliding out.

“Rose,” Rose shook the woman’s proffered hand, taking in the sight of the new (new new) Doctor.

“Tea? John went and decided to bake yesterday; I think it’s a bit obvious she went overboard,” Yaz gestured at the counter vaguely, which was covered in baked delicacies.

‘John’ shrugged. “Still don’t know what came over me. It was like I’d never baked before in my entire lives.” Lives. The four humans looked at each other, concerned. “Do I know you?” She changed her expression, looking over Rose with great interest.

“Tea would be lovely,” Rose ignored ‘John’s’ question.

“How do you know Yaz?” ‘John’ continued to ask questions.

Rose considered the question. It was clear from her interactions with the others that the woman still had some semblance to her Time Lord self. “We have a mutual friend,” she settled on an answer that was true enough.

‘John’ looked at her. “Sorry, I’ve just got the strangest feeling that I know who you are. Have we met before?”

The kettle whistled shrilly. “John, why don’t you pour the tea?” Graham clearly sensed the building tension that the Doctor had unwittingly created with her questions. “Rose, come on to the other room.”

Rose followed him. “She’s so different.”

“People change,” Graham said simply, not unkind.

Rose snickered. “Literally, in the Doctor’s case.”

Graham had to laugh at that. “They’re going to be out here in a minute. I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay. It’s difficult enough to lose someone you care about. I can’t imagine what it would be like to meet them again like this.”

“It’s…it’s weird.” Rose shook her head. “And that’s saying quite a lot, with everything I’ve seen round the universe. Multiverse, really.”

Tea was an interesting affair. The Doctor/John had her own pot of a special tea from a place she couldn’t “quite remember the name of”. It was tangy, yet sweet, and Rose recognized it as something she’d tasted once before on one of her adventures with the Doctor, before he’d regenerated. An assortment of biscuits had been haphazardly dumped into a bowl, mixed with tarts, and a stack of fresh bread.

“I don’t know what it’s been lately, with all the baking. I need to do things with my hands and then Yaz said I wasn’t to take any more of the electronics apart…” ‘John’ pulled a face.

Rose glanced at the timer on the dimension cannon. It was fully recharged. She slipped it back into her pocket. What if this version of the Doctor could still help them?  
Wasn’t it worth waiting? An hour and a quarter, and she would be with the Doctor, if she stayed.

I made my choice a long time ago and I’m never gonna leave you.

That answered that question. She took a sip of her tea, watching the Doctor from the corner of her eye. There was a lightness to this new Doctor that hadn’t been there before. (Whether that was part of the Doctor Doctor or just this human!Doctor was a different question.)

The light camaraderie between the foursome was easy to follow, and Rose was able to join in on some of the jokes, especially ones that poked at the Doctor’s eccentricities (some things could never change).

(One hour.)

Tea was over, Graham was stacking mugs and crumpled napkins together. Ryan and Yaz were laughing about something. Rose made to help Graham, but he shooed her towards the Doctor, a sad twinkle in his eye.

(Forty-five minutes.)

They talked. About their (Earth-based, non-time/alien) travels. About the people in their lives. Rose even adapted some of her alien traveling adventures and told those stories. (Her travelling companion, couldn’t be called the Doctor or John Smith. He was therefore dubbed Jamie, after the little boy he had saved during the Blitz).

“Sounds like you were in love with this Jamie. What happened to him?”

Rose looked at the Doctor, a sad smile on her face. “I suppose we’re about to find out.”

“Well, it’s been three months,” Ryan whispered, watching the Doctor. “Shouldn’t we give her the watch?”

“I say let’s do it,” Yasmin looked to Graham. “We followed her directions to the letter.”

Graham nodded. “All right then.” He pulled a pocket watch from the drawer in the kitchen. “Er, John,” he cleared his throat. “Could you take a look at this watch for me? Not sure if it’s working.” Behind her, Ryan rolled his eyes.

“Course I can!” ‘John’ beamed, clearly excited to take something apart. She opened the watch. And blinked.

“Is that it?” Ryan asked lowly.

“Yes, Ryan, that’s it. It’s not as glamourous as they make it in the movies,” ‘John’ rolled her eyes. “We did it, gang! Fam? Which word were we using, again?” The Doctor stopped talking as her memories caught up to her brain.

“Was I asleep just now?”

“No,” her three companions answered at once.

“Where’s the TARDIS?”

“You parked it in the street, remember?” Yaz said.

“Oh, yeah. Funny how memory works.” The Doctor smiled. “Well, shall we be off then?”

“Er, do you remember the last three months, Doctor?” Graham asked, somewhat hesitant.

“Course I do. Chameleon Arch works the other way round, Graham.”

“Then you’ll remember that there’s someone here to see you.”

The Doctor looked around the kitchen. “Right, the TARDIS is just outside. We’ve got Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and myself. And that’s everyone.”

“Where’d she go?” Her three companions looked at each other.

“Where’d who go?” The Doctor’s face furrowed, concerned.

“There was a woman, here to see you,” Graham looked around. “Did she leave?”

“Rose was here?” The Doctor’s voice trembled. “That was properly real?” Her friends nodded. She steeled herself. “It’s okay. Really. It works out in the end. She’ll find the proper version of me, and they’ll go off with their own TARDIS. Trust me. Speaking of the TARDIS, let’s go!” She clapped her hands together, her wide grin not reaching the longing still present in her eyes.

The Doctor led her friends up the street, her hand resting against the open door for a moment. “I missed you,” she closed her eyes, listening to the familiar hum of the ship.

The TARDIS was positively ecstatic. “I wasn’t gone that long. And you were here the whole time, it’s me that’s been away,” the Doctor grinned cheekily.

“Actually, I think I’ll win any contest for being away the longest,” a familiar voice came from behind the console.

The Doctor froze. “Rose.” The name fell from her lips, almost as a whisper.

“Hello,” the other woman smiled nervously, her tongue poking out from behind her teeth.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve decided to leave the ending ambiguous. Does Thirteen change her past and let Ten figure out what to do about the stars going out by himself? Does Rose stay with 13&Co.? Do they have fantastic sex before Rose has to go back to Pete’s World and maintain the timeline? Who knows!
> 
> Also, did you know… treacle tart is Cockney slang for ‘sweetheart’?


End file.
